Kurt Russell And Sylvester Stallone Will Return For More Marvel Movies

As someone who loves Kurt Russell more than I love my own wife (don’t tell her), nothing could have made me more excited for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2than the addition of Russell. Not only is Russell’s dim-witted onscreen personality a perfect match for the universe that director James Gunn has created, the film will also hopefully — and I cannot believe I’m saying this — introduce the actor to a generation of movie fans who have never seen iconic films like Escape From New York and, more importantly, Big Trouble in Little China.

And while I had resigned myself to Russell and fellow eighties icon Sylvester Stallone only appearing in a few small scenes in the film, it sounds like Marvel has bigger plans for both actors. In a recent conversation with Fandango (via iO9), Gunn opened the door for both Russell and Stallone to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

This is definitely not a one-off [for them]. They’re both characters that we’ve taken a lot of time to develop, and they’re a big part of the MCU now.

While we know that Russell will be playing Peter Quill’s father in the film, less is known about Stallone’s character. As iO9 notes, the most prevalent rumor is that Stallone will be playing a member of the Nova Corps. While I’m not normally a fan of Marvel’s penchant for setting up future characters in other movies, my own wild guess is that Stallone’s character is a pre-Brie Larson version of Captain Marvel, giving the studio a chance to establish the character’s powers and place among other superheroes before handing the character off. I’ll take as much of either of them as I can get.

Here’s the full plot synopsis for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2:

Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.